This lecture is one of the 2024 Senior Vice Chancellor’s Research Seminar series.

Speaker

Hari Bharadwaj, PhD

Assistant Professor of Communication Science and Disorders, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

Topic

Tuning into Clarity: Dissecting Diverse Inner-Ear Pathologies in Hearing Loss

Registration for the lecture is required to receive event instructions.

Overview

Hari Bharadwaj, PhD, assistant professor of communication science and disorders, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, will deliver his talk, “Tuning into Clarity: Dissecting Diverse Inner-Ear Pathologies in Hearing Loss,” today from noon-1 p.m. via Zoom (you must register for the lecture before it begins).

Approximately one in six adults struggle to hear in environments with background noise. Moreover, even patients classified with the same hearing status in audiology clinics have widely varying listening outcomes, suggesting that distinct underlying biological factors contribute to their symptoms. Characterizing this biological diversity in hearing loss and developing noninvasive assessments to differentially diagnose these conditions are critical steps toward improving hearing health through targeted and highly personalized treatments.

Bharadwaj will discuss his team’s recent coordinated cross-species research that addresses both gaps. He will share how their findings elucidate two previously unrecognized components of inner-ear pathology in sensorineural hearing loss that can make understanding speech in noisy environments difficult despite using current treatments, like hearing aids. These components also contribute to different listening outcomes among patients with similar hearing statuses. The team’s work also establishes precision diagnostics for these pathologies that can guide deeper individualization of hearing devices and refine candidacy evaluations for emerging pharmacological treatments.